


The World Outside

by The_Exile



Category: Phantasy Star IV
Genre: Community: ladiesbingo, Gen, Major Illness, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-17
Updated: 2018-09-17
Packaged: 2019-07-13 12:51:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16018295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Exile/pseuds/The_Exile
Summary: Rika had a basic education in most subjects before leaving the biosystems lab but its her first time encountering a lot of things in the world for real - like illness and death, grief and loss, the support of friends.





	The World Outside

**Author's Note:**

> for fill 'illness'

Rika had never seen a human get sick before she left the biosystems lab. She'd been taught about all sorts of illnesses in the instructional videos SEED played for her, talked them through with the AI, saw real life footage and even took courses that involved immersive simulations. However, her automated mentor warned her time and time again that none of this was the same as, or would prepare her for, her first real medical emergency. Then the humans had broken in and that nice Professor had told her about the other humans being killed by those rogue security drones that tried to get in sometimes, as well as the insane human who had turned his fellow humans to stone. Rika was fairly convinced that neither of these were ordinary medical situations for your average human, however - she had expressed confusion at the humans' sudden ability to petrify each other and Professor Holt had explained that this was an extremely unusual case. Neither had the security systems in the facility ever been programmed to open fire on humans, intruders or no, and the Professor seemed uncertain what a security robot even was, as though such a commonplace sight in the world she had been born into was something he had never seen before at all. Mechanical malfunctions - she knew what those were but she also knew that machines were nothing like humans, even advanced AI like SEED.

Since leaving the lab at Birth Valley, she had not only learned about loss and grief first hand, she also quickly picked up a lot of emergency field medical techniques, as she fought for survival alongside her new friends and healed their many injuries. The scientist who was the Professor's student complimented her frequently on how fast she picked up the skills - personally she was astounded at how slowly humans absorbed information, even though she had been taught about human development during her biomedical science classes. 

However, it was Alys, the other female of any species in her new group of friends, who taught her the most practical skills to do with emotional and social development. In her brutally honest opinion, which Rika appreciated, the Numan was socially and emotionally as young as her chronological age of one years old. Her exact words were "It's kind of cute having a new baby sister to look after but don't tell Chaz I said any of that maternal bullshit or I'll thump you!". She had been taught how to express emotions such as grief and concern for friends in a socially appropriate way, as well as joy and curiosity over the vast new world she found herself in. 

Then Alys fell very ill, very suddenly, and it was the first time Rika found out about acute illness in a human. It wasn't something Alys had talked to her about at length, as she was considered not to need it, with all the healthy young combatants in their party. Alys' illness had also been an exceptional case, the result of a curse, a direct hit from a wave of sheer demonic energy. Human medics did not know how to treat this, so she was told to go and seek out the advice of a magical specialist named 'Rune' who their emergency auxiliary party leader, Chaz, did not get on well with. 

On the way to meet Rune, Rika spoke at length with Demi, the control android who they had rescued. With Alys bedridden, Demi was her new female companion, who could be spoken to about private things. Alys was very clear about this: "Women are way better for talking about anything serious and especially anything private. Men are idiots and cowards most of the time. Maybe when you find someone special to you, it'll be different, but you have to absolutely make sure that's the case, okay?"

Rika was still not sure exactly how to tell whether it was Absolutely The Case that someone was Special To Her, so she just spoke to Demi for now. Soon they would find a cure for Alys' malady and everything would be back to normal.


End file.
